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BORON
Boron is a non metallic element and the only non-metal of the group 13 of the periodic table the elements. Boron is electron-deficient, possessing a vacant p-orbital. It has several forms, the most common of which is amorphous boron, a dark powder, non-reactive to oxygen, water, acids and alkalis. It reacts with metals to form borides.

At standard temperatures boron is a poor electrical conductor but is a good conductor at high temperatures.

Applications
The most economically important compound of boron is sodium tetraborate decahydrate Na2B4O7 · 10H2O, or borax, used for insulating fiberglass and sodium perborate bleach. Boric acid is an important compound used in textile products.

Compounds of boron are used in organic synthesis, in the manufacture of a particular type of glasses, and as wood preservatives. Boron filaments are used for advanced aerospace structures, due to their high-strength and light weight.

An early use of borax was to make perborate, the beaching agent once widely used in household detergents. Boron compound also came into the average home in the guise of food preservatives, especially for margarine and fish.

Boron in the environment
Boron is not present in nature in elemental form. It is found combined in borax, boric acid, kernite, ulexite, colemanite and borates. Volcanic spring water sometime contains boric acids.

Borates are mined in US, Tibet, Chile and Turkey, with world production being about 2 million tonnes per year.

Environmental effects of boron
Boron is an element that occurs in the environment mainly through natural processes.

Boron occurs naturally in the environment due to the release into air, soil and water through weathering. It may also occur in groundwater in very small amounts. Humans add boron by manufacturing glass, combusting coal, melting copper and through the addition of agricultural fertilizers. The concentrations of boron that are added by humans are smaller that the naturally added concentrations through natural weathering.

Boron exposure through air and drinking water is not very likely to occur, but the risk of exposure to borate dust in the workplace does exist. Boron exposure may also occur from consumer products such as cosmetics and laundry products.

Plants absorb boron from the ground and through plant-consuming animals it can end up in food chains. Boron has been found in animal tissue, but it is not likely to accumulate.

When animals absorb large amounts of boron over a relatively long period of time through food or drinking water the male reproductive organs will be affected. When animals are exposed to boron during pregnancy their offspring may suffer from birth defects or delayed development. Furthermore, animals are likely to suffer from nose irritation when they breathe in boron.

Just the facts
·        According to Jefferson Lab, the properties of boron are

·        Atomic number (number of protons in the nucleus): 5

·        Atomic symbol (on the Periodic Table of Elements): B

·        Atomic weight (average mass of the atom): 10.81

·        Density: 2.37 grams per cubic centimeter

·        Phase at room temperature: Soil

·        Melting point: 3,767 degrees Fahrenheit (2,075 degrees Celsius)

·        Boiling point: 7,232 degrees F (4,000 degrees C)

·        Number of isotopes (atoms of the same element with a different number of neutrons): 6

·        Most common isotopes: B-10 (natural abundance 19.9 percent) and B-11 (natural abundance 80.1 percent)

Boron has been consumed for menstrual cramps and boric acid has been used vaginally for yeast infections, but evidence is limited.

Boron seems to affect the way the body handles other minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus. It also seems to increase estrogen levels post-menopause. Boric acid, a common form of boron, can kill yeast that cause vaginal infections. Boron may have antioxidant effects.

People commonly use boron for boron deficiency and vaginal yeast infections. It is also used for athletic performance, menstrual cramps, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, and many other conditions, but there is no good scientific evidence to support many of these uses.

Is boron harmful to humans?

Boron is an essential micronutrient. The World Health Organization estimates that an 'acceptable safe range' of boron intakes for adults is 1-13 mg/day.

Is boron a metal?

Boron is a metalloid. It exhibits the properties of both metals and nonmetals. For example - At room temperature, it is a poor electrical conductor like a nonmetal, but it is a good conductor like a metal at high temperatures.

What does boron do in the body?

Boron might have beneficial effects on such functions as reproduction and development, calcium metabolism, bone formation, brain function, insulin and energy substrate metabolism, immunity, and the function of steroid hormones (including vitamin D and estrogen).

What are three uses of boron?

•  Boric oxide is also commonly used in the manufacture of borosilicate glass. It makes the glass tough and heat resistant.

•  Boric acid is used in insecticides.

. Borate salts are used in the refining of metals

History of Boron
While the discovery of boron is attributed to both French and English chemists researching borate minerals in the early 19th century, it is believed that a pure sample of the element was not produced until 1909.

Boron minerals (often referred to as borates), however, had already been used by humans for centuries. The first recorded use of borax (naturally occurring sodium borate) was by Arabian goldsmiths who applied the compound as a flux to purify gold and silver in the 8th century A.D.

Glazes on Chinese ceramics dating from between the 3rd and 10th centuries A.D. have also been shown to make use of the naturally occurring compound.

How does boron act in humans and mammals?

Boron appears to act similarly in humans and mammals in the following respects:

a) Once ingested, borates are almost completely absorbed in the gut and appear rapidly in the blood and body tissues.

b) In mammals, boron is distributed evenly throughout the body fluids. Unlike soft tissues and blood, bone takes up boron selectively to give levels more than four times higher than in blood serum. Boron also remains longer in bone, before elimination.

c) Boric acid is not metabolised (transformed) within the body. Thus the types and relative amounts of boron-containing compounds in the body will be the same in all mammals. This facilitates comparisons between work with humans and other mammalian species.

d) Boron is eliminated by the same route and at the same speed in humans and rats, with more than 90% of boron being eliminated through the urine and with half of the boron being eliminated in 24 hours or less.

Who knew?

Boron may have been the key to the evolution of life on Earth. The element stabilizes ribose, part of RNA, the self-assembling molecule that may have preceded DNA. (Viruses are essentially roving RNA strands.) A June 2014 study found that boron is present in the oldest rocks on Earth, which date back 3.8 billion years. This research proves that the early Earth had the ingredients needed to build RNA.

Or maybe that first RNA got its boron from space. A 2013 study found that a Martian meteorite that landed in Antarctica contained 10 times the boron of any extraterrestrial object previously measured.

Boron, in its crystalline form, is the second-hardest element behind carbon (in its diamond form), according to Chemicool.

Unlike many elements, which form in fusion reactions within stars, boron formed after the Big Bang by a process called cosmic ray spallation. During this process, colliding cosmic rays split the nuclei of atoms, causing fission.

Current research

Boron doesn't have a lot of pop-culture cachet, but science has a lot to say about this surprisingly intriguing element. For example, plant biologists have long known that without boron, plants don't grow. The element is an essential nutrient.

But why? No one knew until August 2014, when researchers at the University of Missouri ferreted out the answer. Boron, they found, is crucial to the stem cells of plants. Portions of the plant called meristems are made of stem cells, which themselves are capable of giving rise to all the different cells that make up a plant. Without boron, these meristems wither, the researchers reported in the journal Plant Cell. In the eastern United States, farmers have to supplement their soil with boron in order to boost crop yields.

Boron may be a boon to tech as well. In July 2014, researchers discovered the first boron "buckyball," a cagelike structure similar to the soccer-ball-shaped carbon buckyballs often used in nanotechnology. Carbon nanostructures (known as fullerenes) were first discovered in the 1980s, and they prompted a wave of research in the hunt for other intriguing atom clusters.

References

https://www.livescience.com/28674-boron.html

https://www.greenfacts.org/en/boron/l-2/boron-99.htm#0